Doodling. We all do it.
Whether it’s during an especially long lecture, during a professional phone call, or another stationary necessity, it’s a very common sight to see. But what is its purpose? And is it a good practice, or something to be left in the margins? Abandon all sense of seriousness, ye who enter…
Here is an exercise for you. Take a pen and a blank piece of paper and set it in front of you on a desk. Set a timer for ten minutes and start drawing. Resist the urge to do anything else for the ten minutes but draw. What comes up immediately? Words? Images? Maybe just scribbles? The aim of the exercise is mainly to get your creative muscles going. But also to consider this: when was the last time a lot of us just sat down and drew for the fun of it?
Drawing is one of the first things we learn to do. In kindergarten, before we can read or write or do quadratic equations, we can draw. Not very well, mind you, but it starts an interest in the expression of our surroundings through pictures. A child is often encouraged to create and explore the world they see as so new. As we get older, we are often expected to leave this wonder behind to specialise in what we have already explored while we were children, so we don’t try new things in fear of failing. The failure that is expected and encouraged in childhood, is frowned upon in your later years. So, where does this leave those who never picked up illustration fulltime? Should efforts of drawing be stopped altogether?
If you can draw in any capacity, I am sure you have heard, at least once, the expression:
“Wow, that’s great! I can’t even draw a stick person!”
First, I’m sure you play a very interesting game of hangman. Second, why limit yourself in such a way? The line between artist and non-artist seems clear, but the only real division between the two is those who create and those who don’t, and creation is about as broad a term as it gets. Maybe you don’t have time or don’t want to dedicate yourself to such a practice, but this is where doodling comes in.
In the little space on either side of your typical sheet of lined paper, there is a pocket of room void of anything, too small for additional notes holding anything of academic value. For the wandering mind, it’s a little space free of judgement from peers and professors to create, for who sees your notes but you? The fear of failure can’t reach what others can’t see. A space for creation free of judgement and real dedication. A place for art.
This art can manifest in the typical expressions, like the hard to master ‘super-s’, a star in a single line, or a game of tic-tac-toe, which are fun, silly, and work well to keep stimulated. But do not make the mistake of reducing doodling to just that. It can also reveal deeper knowledge about who we are.
In the night, while our consciousness focuses on sleeping, our subconscious brings us dreams. In a similar way, during the day, while your consciousness is distracted with whatever you’re doing, your subconscious can run wild through doodles. If you could control your dreams, what would they be? This ‘waking dream’ aspect of doodling can be very helpful in better understanding yourself.
The subconscious is a strange creature, which has information about us and our ways of life that we are not aware of: Who we pay attention to, what we remember, and even how we learn. By trying to look and interact with these concepts, we better understand ourselves, our personal relationships, and our thought patterns. Think back to the exercise and see if you write words or draw first, then flip the paper over and see what you remember about it. It may be strange but it is often the strange things that help us most in life.
The childhood educator’s approach of teaching bits of every subject is one that is left behind in favour of specialisation, but if you at all have any creative itchings, I recommend implementing this small little habit into your day. For the sake of that inner child, and for the sake of whoever you are now. For the tiny, terrible doodle in your notebook may hold the key to your life, if you can embrace the silliness of such a statement.
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